George Downing won the inaugural Archway Table Tennis Club ‘Midweek Medal’ edging out local favourite and Cambridgeshire county champion Adam Jepson in a pulsating and very close final.

The tournament (part of the Table Tennis England computer ranking scheme), took place at the Milfield based TOP TABLE venue and was the first ‘open’ tournament of its kind. The new and innovative ‘midweek medal’ format is being trialled by Archway and offers high level competition and attractive prize money that the club hope will entice more elite players from outside of the county in future editions.

Downing (hailing from Dorset and currently studying Sports Psychology at Bournemouth University) underlined his No 1 seeding courtesy of his England ranking (34) and kept his nerve towards the end of the match to shade a keenly contested match 11-8 in the fifth and final set to clinch the title and win 3-2.

Jepson came into the tournament in a rich vein of form having won the Scunthorpe 1* the previous weekend. Untroubled in the group stages, Jepson sailed into the final with two further convincing quarter and semi-final knockout wins, however, despite a spirited performance in the final match, was unable to cause an upset.

Another Peterborough youngster, Jacob Kurowski, took part, adapted well and gained valuable experience at this level to help his development.